Well, there is the principle of 'first expression' and if your dates are correct then you may have some rights. You need to be able to show that you intended to make use of the domain and the mark for the similar goods and services. In law it is not necessary to register a trademark and therefore one can have unregistered rights, but a registered mark is easier to defend in law. Otherwise one has to prove 'passing off' in court, which is far more difficult to do.
Perhaps the trademark applicant was using the mark from an earlier time but had not attempted to registered it until now. You may need to do some more research on this.
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